SMETHPORT — It’s called the Elk-McKean Independent Baseball League.
And its goal — according to Brandon Ruffner, one of the league’s organizers — is to give local high school athletes the chance to play ball this summer.
“These kids need it,” Ruffner asserted. “I couldn’t imagine being a senior in high school and losing out on all of the things that they have. We’re going to try to give them something to do.”
But full stop: Ruffner knows that any attempt to play baseball, or any sport for that matter, is completely contingent on Pennsylvania lifting its stay-at-home order and easing social distancing regulations.
With those strict guidelines in place in the Keystone State through at least May 8, Ruffner said that the league is looking to tentatively start games a month later, on Monday, June 8.
“Obviously this is all going to hinge on reopening and gatherings,” Ruffner admitted, “and we will see what happens there.
“The only issue we see with that as a group that we’ve been discussing is the players in the dugout; we will have to see about that. (We’re) not really worried about fans at the game.”
Fully realizing some of the significant hurdles they’d have to overcome, Ruffner and other league officials are still fully determined to put together a season.
The EMIBL, so far, consists of teams from Wilcox, Kane, St. Marys, Smethport and Bradford, with the possibility that a sixth team could be added from Emporium. The league will follow American Legion boundaries for determining what players from certain areas (for example. Eldred, Port Allegany) play where, but Ruffner, who coaches the Smethport Legion Post 976 team, emphasized that this is completely independent from any Pennsylvania Legion affiliation, which canceled its summer season in mid-April.
“Originally, I reached out to the Kane coach to see if we could play some pickup games,” Ruffner explained. “Then I talked to our legion league president Denny Haberberger from St. Marys and said, ‘Let’s go ahead and do something for these kids.’ “(We) talked to Brian Fox from Bradford and Scott Zimmerman from Wilcox and they were interested, and we got rolling.
“I want to stress this — and really I can’t stress it enough — but we are not affiliated with American Legion.”
If the league can get off the ground, Ruffner and the other coaches already have nearly every detail of it mapped out. Each team will play 12 regular season games followed by a five-team, round-robin type playoff format that will guarantee everyone plays an additional four times.
A league champion will be crowned at the conclusion of the playoffs.
The games will follow American Legion rules, which include using wooden bats, but there will be no mercy rules in an attempt to get the kids as much playing time as possible.
Ruffner noted that the league will have a traditional set of umpires who’ll earn $60 per game.
“This all came together quickly and obviously everyone was on board right away,” Ruffner said. “As far as parents and things go, everybody seems over the moon thrilled about it. There was some real depression with other sports being canceled and everyone seems lost so this is something for people to enjoy.”
The response from the players regarding the proposed league? Not surprisingly, it’s been nothing short of overwhelmingly positive.
“I’ve got kids coming out of the woodwork left and right all the way clear down in Austin asking me to play,” Ruffner said.
Ruffner added that anyone who is interested in signing up can contact him at (814) 598-3376. There will be no roster caps for the teams, meaning that anyone who is age eligible (you cannot turn 20 years old in 2020) and fall within one of the teams’ five boundaries, can play.
Though Ruffner admits that there are still some kinks to work through — like finding uniforms that don’t have the American Legion insignia on it — he’s confident that the league can be a summer success, once it is safe to roll it out, and could benefit American Legion baseball in the areas for years to come.
“You know, a couple of years ago we had eight teams in our Legion league and this year we were going to be down to five,” Ruffner noted. “It seems like with travel ball and other leagues that Legion has taken a backseat. But maybe this can serve as a way to build it back up and we can use this as a feeder league.
“But fingers crossed that we can (play) and that’s all you can do, I guess. It really would be great to give these kids something.”
